The exemplary First Lady of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007, Her Excellency, Senator Oluremi Tinubu is not just “…the girl from the South Side who took on a role she didn’t ask for and made it her own.” Senator Oluremi Tinubu is a God fearing and praying woman, truly beautiful from the inside out, that His Excellency Senator Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, sought and found as a virtuous wife, godly partner, and confidant. Being a godly wife begins with the right priorities and Senator Oluremi Tinubu continue to nourish her personal relationship to God (Matt. 6:33). The divinely inspired portrait of Senator Oluremi Tinubu includes: her pleasant appearance, giving her husband a sense of pride, efficiency in homemaking, helpfulness to her husband, her passion and understanding the awesome task of producing and advocating for the next generation. Senator Oluremi Tinubu, clothed in God’s strength and dignity and being the wife of a high-profile politician, along with the accompanying media exposure is more than being a “political wife.” Senator Oluremi Tinubu with her intelligent and an easy charm with strangers is carving out a renewing path for present and future political spouses, women behind the men who are shaping politics in Nigeria.

Senator Oluremi Tinubu, born on Wednesday, 21st September, 1960, is the youngest of 12 children of his parents, Chief John Ikusebiala (Odugbesan) of blessed memory and Princess Patience Ikusebiala. Senator Oluremi Tinubu was raised in Ogun State but an indigene of the Itsekiri tribe of Nigeria. She is a holder of a National Certificate of Education in Botany and Zoology from Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, and thereafter obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biology Education from University of Ife, Ile-Ife. Senator Oluremi Tinubu became First Lady of Lagos State when her husband, His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu became the Governor between 1999 and 2007. She founded the New Era Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to youth development, girl-child education, women empowerment and inspiring young persons to excellence. She initiated the annual ‘Spelling Bee competition to raise educational standards, and; gave birth to the Annual One-Day Governor programme, which has produced many First Class university graduates.’ As an author, Senator Oluremi Tinubu in her autobiography, The Journey of Grace – My Faith Walk, brings to the limelight her testimony, passion and call to care for the needy. In recognition of her advocacy and contributions to community and national development, Senator Oluremi Tinubu has been honoured both locally and internationally. She is an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON); Ghana Noble International Award for Leadership, Gambian Diamond Award for Immense Contribution to the Emancipation of People from Poverty. She is a Fellowship of both Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, and College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti; Member, Board of Trustees of Kings’ University, Ode-Omu. She was elected as the Senator for Lagos Central District in 2011, 2015, and 2019. Senator Oluremi Tinubu hosts a quarterly Town Hall Meeting with her constituents, to render accounts of her stewardship and obtain feed-backs on their developmental needs.

Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s constituency development initiatives include: ‘Post-Secondary School Scholarship Scheme [PSSS] –Annual disbursement of N100, 000 to 26 beneficiaries for four years, and 624 students of tertiary institutions receive N10, 000 as book bursaries. Grants to help 650 beneficiaries within her constituency to re-capitalize their businesses. Provision of maintenance grants to alleviate the plight of the elderly (Elderly Citizen Assistance Scheme). Sponsorship of Youth Empowerment and Skills Acquisition Scheme (YESAS) to enable more youth in her constituency to become economically productive and self-employed. Helped secure N377m funding from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund [TETFUND] for three institutions – Sir Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (N109m); Lagos State University (N108m), and Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (N160m). Through the Senate Committee on Education, she obtained Federal support for the rehabilitation of Jibowu Junior High School, Yaba [N21 million], Banjo Primary School, Otumara-Ilogbo, Ebute-Metta [N20 million] as well as N15 million each for Holy Trinity Primary School, Ebute-Ero, Ansar Ud-Deen Primary School, Oke-Popo and Ire-Akari Primary School, Orile-Iganmu.’ Senator Oluremi Tinubu is the convener of the annual Musical Youth Fiesta Initiative to promote Godly lifestyle among the youths and Daughters of Zelophehad Ministry. She built a Drug Rehabilitation and Skill Acquisition Centre in Ajah.

Senator Oluremi Tinubu at 60 is about testimony of Esther in the King’s palace. Not just as a graduate of Bible College, her Christian faith continues to impact in her service as a wife, a mother, and a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Her mission is in obedience to instruction from God. According to Senator Oluremi Tinubu, God told her not to touch her salary ‘for three years and the fourth year’ using it to praise God, wiping the tears off people’s faces. Following the instruction of her spiritual mother, Mama Folu Adeboye, to make sure she stand for God, she continue to remain steadfast, not disappointing her spiritual parents and her family. Indeed, God has given Senator Oluremi Tinubu a platform, according to her, not as ‘a saint,’ but as a vessel of honour for God’s use.

For me, it is difficult to write about Senator Oluremi Tinubu without writing about her husband, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. By the grace of God, just as a young man is repeatedly told that his choice of a wife will be a determining influence on his life and career, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed found a good woman and finds security, abundance, and satisfaction. Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s description of her husband suggests two best of friends where love is patient, kind, does not envy, does not dishonour others, not self-seeking, not keeping record of wrongs, always protect, always trust, always hope, and always persevere.

According to Senator Oluremi Tinubu, ‘My husband is very down to earth and not the lovey-dovey type. He is a soft man, though he hides his emotions. On several occasions, he forgets my birthday. He even does funny things on Valentine’s Day because he knows I like Valentine’s. But he would just come, analysing who Valentine was and all the story behind him to the extent that he messes the day up for me. Asiwaju would purposely forget my birthday. I was set in my ideas about marriage, but he made those ideas crumble in his own way. I would say that we have to be together on the 31st of December, because I had this funny belief that the first person one sees on 1 January is the person one would spend the rest of the year with. See how twisted I was! But it is different with this man. I have a lot of people who share him with me. It was not like that before he became a politician. He would always remember my birthday and other important events. We don’t have a private life anymore because he is always surrounded by a lot of people. On some occasions on my birthday, I would just excuse myself and stay in my room, and he would leave the people quietly when it is midnight, to say happy birthday to me. He would come upstairs and pretend as if he wants to use the toilet or bathroom, just to make sure he doesn’t miss saying happy birthday to me when it is exactly midnight. He knows how sensitive I am to such things. So, he tries to bend backwards in his own way. I believe there is a strong love between both of us and also subscribe to the saying that love suffers long and conquers all things. Even when I advise couples, I always emphasise that love endures and has to be made strong.’

In Proverbs 12, the characteristics of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s wise choice of Senator Oluremi Tinubu as his wife are identified. Indeed, Senator Oluremi Tinubu is “an excellent wife … the crown of her husband … a prudent wife … from the Lord,” a wise wife, a virtuous wife, a godly wife, a gift from God to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The counsel of King Lemuel’s Jewish mother in Proverbs 31 suggests the best thing that happened to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. ‘Most of all,’ Asiwaju found ‘a good wife’ just as a good wife determines earthly accomplishment, and set the parameters of her husband’s living and his influence.

Senator Oluremi Tinubu at 60, a wise choice of a wife and a mother of nation is of priceless value.  She has physical strength, mental strength, moral strength, and spiritual strength.  Above all, she loves God deeply and reverently.  What makes Senator Oluremi Tinubu at 60, a wise choice of a wife and a mother is her character, her devotion as a homemaker, lawmaker and nation builder, her generosity as a philanthropist, her influence as a professional teacher, her effectiveness as a mother, and her excellence as a person. Senator Oluremi Tinubu is a wife and a mother, a woman that every woman should seek to emulate. Senator Oluremi Tinubu is excellent in the sense of her strength spiritually, morally, mentally, physically.  She is a woman of substance and a mentor.  She is one who makes a difference with a towering reputation of doing good for the common good, especially for the poor. Her legacies as a Grand Matron of the Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials (COWLSO) and as a former Lagos State First Lady are ‘all over the world with products of her Spelling Bee competition doing valiantly in different professions.’ As a serving Senator representing Lagos Central, ‘her engaging romance with her constituency and the prospects of a better Nigeria,’ are with testimonies. She introduced the social security bill with focus on the elderly, ‘especially those in the agrarian sector that don’t even have any form of insurance but have provided food for us over the years.’

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu sought for a wife not for all the wrong reasons: looks, accomplishment, style, success, money, education, but he sought for a woman for virtue, strength of character, spiritual excellence, and internal godliness in Senator Oluremi Tinubu. Hence, one major character of Senator Oluremi Tinubu is that “The heart of her husband trusts in her.”  Senator Oluremi Tinubu is trustworthy. In absolute confidence in her integrity, and her discretion, and her wisdom, and her care for all of her husband’s interests, Senator Oluremi Tinubu allows her husband to do his work most of the time away from home, perhaps an extended time in office or political field. 

For Senator Oluremi Tinubu at 60, wise choice of a virtuous wife and a mother of nation, ‘there’s a substantial home to be cared for, and substantial resources of which she is a steward, but “The heart of her husband trusts in her.”  Senator Oluremi Tinubu is virtuous to the point where her husband has no jealousy, no fear, no suspicion, and no anxiety. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu knows that his care is Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s concern, ‘his comfort is her passion, his burdens are hers to relieve, his being at ease is her high priority, and his house has become the home of his heart, because he trusts in the one who leads that household, his wife,’ Senator Oluremi Tinubu.  Resultantly, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu is filled with discretion, wisdom, faithfulness, trustworthiness, having “no lack of gain.”

Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s stewardship, her management, her wisdom, and her care free her husband to be everything that he can be in the pursuit of his political vision. Senator Oluremi Tinubu at 60 inspires a wise choice of a virtuous wife and a mother of nation that will do their husbands “… good and not evil,” that will always do what’s best for their husbands, pursues their best husband interests, especially for national development.  Strengthens, builds, and encourages their husbands in nations building.  Senator Oluremi Tinubu at 60, a wise choice of a virtuous wife and a mother of nation is about love based on high spiritual principles that does not flunctuate with the circumstances of life. It is a pure, loving and deep commitment: “all the days of her life,” a vow keeper, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, in plenty and in want.  Senator Oluremi Tinubu at 60, a wise choice of a virtuous wife and a mother of nation is beneficial just as “Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.” 

In a culture and age where laziness is defined as spirituality and many shirking in the duties of home and marriage because of carer or politics, Senator Oluremi Tinubu at 60, full of energy reminds us that there is no place in life for self-indulgence. She is consume with the needs and cares for others, an amazing community builder and a steward of funds and resources. Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s role to the pre and post-surgery normal life of the separated 2-month-old conjoined twins Faithful and Favour Sobowale-Davies remains unforgettable. On Thursday, September 11, 2003, the twins, from Lagos who had been joined at the abdomen and sternum (chest), and their livers had been fused together were successfully operated and separated at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre, United State of America courtesy of the Lagos State Government under His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It is on record that, ‘during the procedure, surgeons divided the fused liver into two separate organs, one for each twin. The liver is the only organ in the body with the ability to regenerate itself, making separation possible.’ On their return to Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu used her office as the First Lady to facilitate the twins’ normal life into healthy little girls with a car, a bungalow house and other material and monetary gifts for the family. Senator Oluremi Tinubu also played a leading role for government sponsorship and successful treatment of my son David Okegbile who was diagnosed with brain tumour in the year 2000 and was operated on at The Great Ormonds Street Hospital, London.

Senator Oluremi Tinubu as a mother, a giver, and carer not only ‘extends her hands to the poor,’ she stretches out her hands to the needy, and like Dorcas, ‘abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually’ so thereby touching many families, churches, and communities (Acts 9:36). During the 10th year Remembrance celebration of her father, Pa Ikusebiala, she renovated her dad’s church at Akute and redecorated the entire altar at St Anne Church, Molete, Ibadan. Senator Oluremi Tinubu not only make spiritual impacts “she opens her mouth in wisdom,” as a mother of nation, day in and day out, hour in and hour out, teaching wisdom to the people that comes in contact with her. As a trained teacher and with a dominant attitude of loving kindness,  instruction flows of her life and engagement with others through ‘gracious speech, kind speech, tender speech, pleasing speech, compassionate speech, ministering grace to the hearers.’

Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s excellence as a person is not only political, but firstly with her spiritual dimension.  As a wife and mother who fears the Lord, not just as an ordained minister, she is a lover of God, a true worshipper. Her lifestyle theology and philosophy is counter-cultural to the world context that put the self first – “the me generation.” The construction and dedication of the State House Chapel, Marina, Lagos, under the government of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu with the influence of his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu remains a unifying factor for Lagos State Christian community and for the annual Lagos Thanksgiving celebration. At 60, Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s obedience to God in her calling to empower people remains a wise choice of a virtuous wife and mother of nation in such a time as this. HAPPY RENEWING BIRTHDAY MA.